Indonesia: Companies in Riau alleged to have set land fires

Antara 29 Sep 15;

Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - Seventeen companies in Sumatras province of Riau are believed to have set land fires in eight districts in the province.

"All the companies are now being dealt with by the police in their respective districts," Adjunct Senior Commissioner Guntur Aryo, the head of public relations of the regional police command, stated here on Tuesday.

He noted that two companies were being investigated by the police in Indragiri Hilir, three in Pelalawan and Kampar respectively, two in Rokan Hilir, and one in Indragiri Hulu.

Of the 17 companies, only PT Langgam Inti Hibrindo (LIH) has been confirmed as a suspect, the case of which is now being handled by the directorate of special crimes of the Riau regional police command.

He noted that all the companies had been cordoned off by the police and declared as status quo until investigations are completed.

He declined to reveal the names of all the companies due to fears that it would disrupt the investigation process, though he confirmed that most of the companies are operating in the plantation sector.

So far, the Riau regional police command has declared 68 individuals as suspects in land fire cases, and 23 cases out of them have been handed over to the prosecutors office.

On September 17, the Riau police arrested an executive of PT LIH known by the initials FK as a suspect in the case of land fire in Pelalawan.

Ari Rachman Nafarin, the vice director of special criminal investigation department of the Riau police command, noted that FK was arrested in Tanjung Mutiara in the district of Agam, West Sumatra.

PT LIH has been confirmed as a suspect in the case of setting land fire that occurred in the middle of the year.

The palm oil company has been charged with negligence that has caused fires based on Law Number 32 of 2009 on environment protection and management.(*)

40 suspects to be charged, says Indonesia’s top cop
NURADZIMMAH DAIM New Straits Times 29 Sep 15;

KUALA LUMPUR: Forty people suspected to be involved in the open burning in Sumatera and Kalimantan will be charged soon.

Indonesia National Police Chief Gen Badrodin Haiti said investigations revealed that there were 210 cases of burning in the two areas that have caused fire in plantation and forest leading to haze.

"Investigations also revealed that there were foreign companies that have registered under the name of the locals involved in the activity which have flouted laws in regards to plantation, forestry and wildlife protection.

We are in the process of identifying the real enterprise owners," he told reporters at the 10th Asean Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime, here.

He said one of the companies had its license revoked while license of three others had been frozen.


Police round up more suspects for burning forests
Fedina S. Sundaryani and Rizal Harahap, The Jakarta Post 30 Sep 15;

As the country struggles to deal with land and forest fires raging in Sumatra and Kalimantan, the National Police have said they are investigating 219 cases that could lead to the prosecution of individuals and firms responsible for starting the fires.

National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Suharsono told reporters on Tuesday that four of the 219 cases were being investigated at the National Police headquarters while the rest were being investigated by regional police.

Data from the National Police showed that the South Sumatra Police were currently handling 34 cases, the Riau Police 68 cases, the Jambi Police 18 cases, the Central Kalimantan Police 57 cases, the West Kalimantan Police 26 cases, the South Kalimantan Police eight cases and the East Kalimantan Police four cases.

Suharsono said that of the 219 cases, police investigators had wrapped up their probes into 42 cases and had handed them over to the prosecutor’s office, with the dossiers, evidence and suspects of 18 cases having been transferred to court for trial.

“There are a total of 205 suspects [from all the cases]; 196 individual suspects and nine corporate suspects,” he said.

At least 68 individuals have been detained by the police.

Suharsono added that the four cases being investigated at the National Police headquarters did not involve individuals who allegedly started the forest fires, but were cases against those in the higher echelons of firms accused of being involved in the crimes.

The individuals and firms were charged under Law No. 32/2009 on the protection of the environment, which carries a minimum prison sentence of three years and a maximum of 10 years along with a fine of Rp 3 billion (US$204,457).

Firms responsible for fires could also have their licenses revoked.

The number of cases being investigated by the police has jumped from Sept. 15 when there were only 130 cases with 150 individual and corporate suspects nationwide.

As police stepped up their prosecution of individuals responsible for forest fires, local regions continued to deal with health risks from haze that blanketed a number of cities.

The Pekanbaru health agency in Riau said that the number of people needing treatment due to exposure from the haze had reached 8,673 by Tuesday.

“The data was based on the number of individuals who received outpatient treatment at eight emergency health posts and 20 community health centers by Sept. 29, 2015,” head of the Pekanbaru Health Agency, Helda S. Munir, said on Tuesday, as reported by Antara news agency.

Helda said that 7,628 of the patients were treated for respiratory tract infections, while the remainder suffered from asthma, pneumonia, eye irritations, skin irritations and diarrhea.

Authorities in Riau have also decided to extend the haze emergency status for the next two weeks.

“The decision was based on the fact that the air quality index has not improved. The figure continues to hover above 400 PSI [pollutant standard index], which could be considered dangerous,” said Riau Disaster Mitigation Agency head Edwar Sanger.

Earlier, the Pekanbaru branch of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said that on Monday there were still 285 hotspots in Sumatra, encompassing South Sumatra, Lampung and Bangka-Belitung. Up to 239 of the total were found in South Sumatra.